[Surfnetkids: 18 Dec 2013] Learn to Code

Do you have a website? Would you like some free games for your site? In the last week, I have been working on adding more games to those that we give away for free. Here is where you can find them. Visit now for three great math games (Add Like Mad, Multiplication Station and Subtraction Station) but come back in a few days as I am uploading about twelve more games this week.

In celebration of Hour of Code, this week’s roundup is a collection of websites where kids of all ages can be introduced to computer programming. Hour of Code is a campaign created by Code.org to introduce 10 million students to programming. Dozens of sites created tutorials for Hour of Code. Here are my picks.

Grok Learning: Hour of Code “Use the programming language Python to build a chatbot called ‘Eliza.’ Can she fool your friends into thinking she’s a human not a computer?” This is just one of three one-hour Python courses offered by Grok Learning for Hour of Code. Grok Learning also offers the first two modules of their paid online classes for free, if you want to continue your coding education.

Learn to Code: Hour of Code Watch the two-minute intro video, and you’ll be ready to start programming a game snippet (right in your browser) with Blockly. Blockly is a visual programming language where you drag and drop colorful code blocks, instead of actually typing out code. Your first task is to get an Angry Bird through a maze to reach the Green Pig. It should take you about an hour to complete all twenty puzzles. Inspired to learn more? Click the Learn Online button for the free K-8 Intro to Computer Science class.

Light-bot: Hour of Code Light-bot is a mobile app that teaches basic programming principles in a “super unintimidating” puzzle game. “Light-bot lets players gain a practical understanding of basic control-flow concepts like procedures, loops, and conditionals, just by guiding a robot with commands to light up tiles and solve levels.” Their Hour of Code contribution is a game that can be played in a browser or as a mobile app.